Sapa O’Chau

Well here I am in sunny Sapa after an overnight train journey that could’ve gone better in terms of the number of ZZZZZZZZZZs achieved. At least it was comfy even if I spent most of the night plotting how to successfully dispose of two of my noisy chatting cabin mates, alas the window didn’t open wide enough. However sleep deprived I was I still managed to stay awake for the journey from the Lao Cai train station through beautiful scenery up to Sapa in the North West of Vietnam. It’s a very pretty place and is a welcome slowing down of the frenetic pace of Hanoi.

I have actually found a rather brilliant social enterprise to volunteer with whilst I’m here, I’m unsure how long I’m going to stay but after my first meeting at their Café and seeing some of the people involved I’m really excited to be here. Sapa O’Chau is a school, trekking, homestay and very recently opened café run by people from local minority groups who are tapping into the tourism trade here. Their trekking business is in fact the only one in Sapa run by local minority groups and there are also trainee guides from the school who are learning English. I could ramble about what they are doing but it’s all laid out rather nicely on their fab website so go take a look there at www.sapaochau.org

It’s a brilliant organisation always looking for volunteers who can teach or help the business in some way. I spent the afternoon in the café meeting some of the staff and students who work in the café gaining new skills and practicing their English. Everyone was so friendly and I felt like this was the volunteer experience I had been looking for. They are clearly very passionate about what they do and I can’t wait to get stuck in. I think I could be here for some time.